Chandigarh, Sep 19 (IANS): In a bid to curb the menace of stubble burning during the paddy harvesting season, the Punjab government on Sunday announced it would appoint 8,500 nodal officers for the current paddy growing villages, identified as hotspots, where paddy stubble was being traditionally put on fire.

According to the Punjab Pollution Control Board's Member Secretary Krunesh Garg, the directions have already been issued to the Deputy Commissioners concerned to give special attention to the hotspot villages.

Patiala, Sangrur, Barnala, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Muktsar Sahib, Tarn Taran, Moga, and Mansa were identified as hotspot districts, where more than 4,000 active fire incidents of stubble burning cases were reported in each in the past.

Garg said a control room in each district has also been set up for monitoring the stubble burning incidents, uploading of the data to mobile apps to the dashboard, and preparation and submission of action taken reports to different quarters.

The state government has embarked upon a programme for management of paddy straw, without burning, by the farmers.

A total of 76,626 subsidised agro-machines or equipment have been supplied to the farmers, cooperative societies, panchayats, and Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme in the past three years.